Trash-feeder for bagasse-furnaces.



No. 684,445 Patented Oct. I5, 1901.

n. s. manna.

TRASH FEEDER FUR BAGASSE FURNACES.

(Application filed Dec. 13, 1899.)

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

WXmzssas: use {or v www AS-W WM No. 684,449. Patented Oct. l5, I90l. R.S. MOORE.

TRASH FEEDER FOR BAGASSE FURNACES.

(Application filed Dec. 13, 1899.] (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Shaat 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT S. MOORE, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE RISDON IRON ANDLOCOMOTIVE WORKS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

TRASH-FEEDER FOR BAGASSE-FURNACES.

SPECEFIGATION' forming part of Letters Patent No. 684,449, dated October15, 1901.

Application filed December 13, 1899- Serial No. 740,203. (No model.)

T0 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, ROBERT S. MOORE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Oakland, in the county of Alameda and State of California,have invented certain new and useful Improvementsiu Trash-FeedersforBagasse-Furnaces; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull, clear, and exact description thereof.

The present invention relates to certain new and useful improvements inthat class of machinery known as trash-feeders for bagasse-furnaces usedin connection with the manufacture of sugar; and it consists in thearrangement of parts and details of construction, as will be hereinafterfully set forth in the drawings and described and pointed out in thespecification. Ordinarily the feedrolls located within thetrash-receiving hopper, located above and communicating with thecombustion-chamber of the furnace, are so arranged as to leave apassage-way therebet-ween through which the trash passes. Where thepassage-way or clearance-space between the feed-rolls is uniform,whether the feed of the trash into the feed-hopper be light or heavy, itis obvious that unless sufficient trash be maintained within thefeed-hopper to cover or close the passage-way between the feed-rolls aspace will be left through which air will be drawn or sucked from thehopper into the combustion-chamber of the furnace. As the feed-hopper isan open one, it is required that the passage-way between the feed-rollsbe a closed one in order to provide against excess of air being drawninto the combustion-chamber. Such excess of air being admitted to thecombustion-chamber serves to lower the temperature of the furnace to aconsiderable degree. This is a serious objection where the furnace isutilized in connection with the sugar-reducing boiler, as an uneventemperature efiects the process of manufacturing sugar to a considerableextent. It is this defect in the feed mechanism for the trash that thepresent invention is designed to obviate. Hence the invention may besaid to consist in so arranging that the feed-rolls shall be adjustabletoward and from each other in order to decrease or increase thepassage-Way for the trash in accordance with the feed of the trash intothe feed-hopper and so that the feed-rollers when adjusted will bepositively held for the purpose of providing against excess of air beingdrawn or sucked into the combustion-chamber of the furnace.

In order to comprehend the invention, reference should be had to theaccompanying sheet of drawings, wherein- Figure l is an end view inelevation of the feed mechanism applied to a bagasse-furnace, thefurnace being partly broken and illustrated in longitudinal section andthe endless feed-carrier partly broken. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectionalview in elevation taken on line a: as, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a top plan viewof the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a view similar toFig. 1 looking at the opposite end of the feed-hopper.

In the drawings the letter A is used to indicate an ordinarybagasse-furnace, and A the trash-feed hopper, located above thecombustion-chamber A of the furnace, communication between the chamber Aand interior of the hopper being established by the opening a, whichopening or slot extends across and through top wall B of the furnace.The feed-hopper is supported by wall B directly over the opening a, Fig.1 of the drawings, and is made, preferably, equal in width to that ofthe furnace. These features are old and well known in connection withtrashfeeders for bagasse-furnaces, and the trash is fed into thefeed-hopper by means of an endless conveyer B, which conveyer or carrierworks over end rollers, only one, B being shown, and delivers the trashinto the hopper at its upper end, as is usual in this class of feeders.As stated, the foregoing parts being old and well known to thosefamiliar with this class of machinery detailed description of the sameis not deemed necessary. Within the hopper A the toothed feed-rollers BB are located, which rollers receive the trash fed into the hopper andconvey the same downward toward the opening a, leading to thecombustion-chamber A These toothed rollers serve to break or mash thetrash as passed therebetween. Said rollers are located a short distanceapart, thus forming,-when the hopper is emptied of trash, a directcommunication or passage-way Ct between the upper portion of the hopperor, as the hopper is an opened-top one, the atmosphere and the opening(t, leading to the combustionchamber. The journals 1 2 3 4:of-feed-rollers B B extend through elongated openings 5 6, cut througheach end wall 7 S of feed-hopper A. Upon journal 1 of roller B isloosely fitted arm 0, which arm at its upper end is fulcrumed tostud b,projecting from end wall '7, while upon journal 20f roller B is looselyfitted arm 0, which arm at its upper end is fulcrumed by pin 17 to endwall 7, Fig. 1 of the drawings. The lower end of arm C is attached toslide-block cl, while lower end of arm 0' is attached to slide-block d.These blocks are internally screw threaded and work, respectively, uponthe right and left screw-threaded portions 02 d of adjustingrod C whichrod works in suitable bearings attached to end wall 7 of feed-hopper.Upon journals 3 4, projecting through opposite end wall 8 of thefeed-hopper, is loosely fitted arms C C respectively, which arms attheir upper end are fulcrumed to end wall 8. Arm C is attached at itslower end to slide-block e and arm 0 at its lower end to slide-block 6.Each slide-block, like slide-blocks d d, is internally screw-threadedand works, respectively, upon the right and left screwthreaded portions6 e of ad justing-rod D, which rod works in suitable bearings attachedto end wall 8 of the feed-hopper. To the inner end of adjustingrod D isattached a small sprocket-wheel D and to the inner end portion ofadjusting-rod C is attached a similar sprocket-wheel D,o'ver whichsprocket-wheels works the sprocket-chain D By means of the connectingsprocket-chain the rotation of adjusting-rod C isimparted toadjusting-rod I) in order that the adjusting mechanism located at eachend of the hopper for the feed-rollers may work in unison. Theadjusting-rod O is rotated by means of the hand-whee1D secured to theinner end thereof, Fig. 1 of the drawings. To the outer end of journal 1is keyed or otherwise rigidly secured the worm-gear E, which worm-gearmeshes with worm E of shaft E while to the outer end of journal 2 iskeyed or otherwise secured the worm-gear E which meshes with wormEfialso secured to shaft E These worms may be said to constitute a partof shaft E which works in bearings attached to end wall 7. To one end ofshaft E is secured the bevel-gear F, which meshes with pinion F securedupon the drive-shaft F This shaft is driven in any suitable manner andthe motion thereof is transmitted to shaft E through the medium of gearand pinion F F Motion of the shaft E is in turn transmitted to thefeed-rollers through the medium of the described inter-i meshing gearand worm mechanism. The pitch of theworms E E is such that the gears Eare driven in opposite directioii's, so as r In this manner the rotationof feed-roller B 7 is imparted to roller B for driving of the endlessconveyer B.

It will be readily understood that as, the trash is fed into the hopperA by the endless conveyer or carrier B it is received between therotating feed-rollers B B which rollers feed the trash downward anddeliver same into the combustion-chamber A through the passage-way (1.So long as the feed of the trash into the hopper is sufficient tomaintain the passage a between the feed-rollers covered the positions ofthe feed-rollers remain unchanged. However, should the feed of the trashbe light or less than the delivery of the same to the combustionchamber' of the furnace, then it becomes necessary to place thefeed-rollers closer together in'order to reduce the passage-waytherebetw'een.

By thus part closing the passage-waybetween' the feed-rollersl not onlyreduce the feed of the trash to the combustion-chamber in pro portion tothe feed'of the trash into thefeedhopper, but at the same time preventan'ex oess of air being drawn or sucked into the combustion-chamber fromthe feed-hopper; This closing or reducing the passage-way isaccomplished through the medium ofthe adr j usting-rods C and D and thef ulcrumed arm's O, C, 0 and 0 When the operator'desires' to reduce thedistance between the feed-roll ers, the hand-wheel D is turned tooperate the rod 0 so as to draw the slide-blocked d inward, which servesto bring the fulcrum'edarms 0 and 0 together and likewise armsC and C bythe inward movement of slide blocks a e upon the adjusting -rod D, themotion of adj ustingrod 0 being transmit IIO ted to rod D by means ofthe sprocket-.

chain D As the adj usting-rods work in uni son, the fulcrumed arms ateach end of the feed-hopper gradually come together. In-

asmuch as the journals of the feed-rollers pass through these fulcruinedarms,any'movement of the said arms is imparted to said rollers, thejournals of which will slide within the elongated openings in the endwalls 'of the feed-hopper for this purpose. When desired to increase thedistance between the will thus be seen that I am enabled to move orregulate the position of the feed-rollers in proportion to the feed ofthe trash into the feed-hopper in order to provide against excess of airbeing drawn into the combustion-chamber of the furnace through thefeedhopper.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure protection in by Letters Patent, is

1. In a trash-feeder for furnaces, the combination with a hopper adaptedto be located over a feed-opening in a furnace, of a pair ofbearing-arms fulcrumed at each of two opposite ends of said hopper, twofeed-rollers sus pended by and rotatable in said arms, ad justing meansat one end of the hopper for adjusting one pair of arms toward and fromeach other, adjusting means at the opposite end of the hopper foradjusting the other pair of arms, connecting means to cause thesimultaneous operation of said two adjusting means, and mechanism forpositively driving both feed-rollers irrespective of their adjustment,substantially as described.

2. In a trash-feeder for furnaces, the combination with the feed-hopper,of the endless conveyerfor feeding the trash into the hopper, the feedrollers arranged within the hopper, connected mechanism for impartingtravel to the endless conveyer and rotation to the feed-rollers, thearms fulcrumed to each end of the hopper carrying the rollers andthrough which the journals of the feed-rollers extend, and of devicesfor throwing the fulcrumed arms in or out in order to adjust thefeed-rollers toward and from each other.

3. In a trash-feeder for furnaces, the combination with ahopper adaptedto be located over a feed=opening in a furnace, of a pair ofbearing-arms fulcrumed at each end of said hopper, two feed-rollersarranged in said hopper, each having journals projecting throughopenings in the ends of the hopper and journaled in one bearing-arm ateach end, a rotatable adj usting-rod mounted in bearings at one end ofthe hopper and having worms en gaging one pair of bearing-arms, arotatable adjusting-rod mounted in bearings at the opposite end of thehopper and having worms engaging the other pair of bearing-arms,connecting means to cause the simultaneous rotation of said adjustingrods to move both rollers toward or from each other simultane ously, andmechanism for positively driving both feed-rollers irrespective of theiradjustment, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afflx my signature, in presence of two witnesses,this 10th day of November, 1899. 7

ROBERT S. MOORE.- Witnesses:

N. A. ACKER, D. B. RICHARDS.

